(Newser)
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What kind of flea feeds on dinosaurs? The big kind. Scientists have found fossils of Jurassic and Cretaceous-era fleas measuring up to an inch in length buried in China, the Telegraph reports. In addition to their unusual size, the fleas' saw-like "siphonate" mouthparts, which were used to suck the blood from their prey, are unusually long and sturdy.

Because the only furry mammals of the period were very small, scientists hypothesize that such large fleas must have fed on dinosaurs—the long siphonate might have been used to pierce their hides. Today's far tinier fleas only prey on animals with fur or feathers, but because feathered dinosaurs have been unearthed in China, it's possible they were the fleas' main prey. (The little guys may have been impressive, but T. rex was a better biter.)

"Modern" fleas can jump 100 times their height and 200 times their length. That would have these fleas jumping over eight feet high and nearly twenty feet ... Just what I want, a flea that can reach me on a ladder from twenty feet away and lands with an audible "plunk!!"

793tango

Mar 1, 2012 5:04 PM CST

OK here we go bill; fleas are parasites. They'll do whatever they have to to survive. They lived on dinosaurs. Then the dinosaurs were wriped out (by whatever method you're willing to believe) and all of a sudden their ride is over right? Not quite. They find that these OTHER animals (mammals) are getting bigger and more numerous, taking advantage of the dinos demise. They find that gee these mammals don't have as tough a skin as the dinos had. Lets feed on them. BUT since mammals aren't as big as dinos they don't get as much to eat and so have to grow smaller to adapt to the changing food supply (a 1 inch flea won't get much of a meal out of a mouse or a rat). This is seen today in the smaller size of animals living in places with reduced food supplies (like say shetland ponies). Also if you know something about fleas you'd know that their eggs and larvae can remain dormant for a long time until a suitable host comes along. You would also know that basically every species of animal in the world has some kind of parasite that feeds off of it, so the idea that dinosaurs had fleas is not that radical. Does that make sense?